Post Grandchildren Blues

7:37

7:58

It's still utterly dark at 6:48 and I have been immersed in it for an hour.  It looks like more rain and mild temperatures for the next few days.  The lake is mostly open with a few ice floes near the shoreline,  and it is shocking to remember that neighbors were skating on it less than a week ago.  I guess I should get out my paddle just not today, it's too windy and wet out there. 

8:00

8:13

Sunday was depressing both inside and out. Jill's family left at 7:00 so suddenly, our house was quiet and empty of grandchildren.  And the weather seemed to match our mood as it was overcast and rainy most of the day.  Once they left, we were left with a full day with nothing we had to do, a void as it were.  To assuage the blues, we always get busy after a departure and start a major cleaning, which gives us something to do and combats the blahs.  So we changed the beds, vacuumed the living room, cleaned up the kitchen, the TV room, and just kept busy with things until we tired. 

Around 10:30, we got the bright idea of driving into Lakewood, to TJ Maxx, to return the chairs Evie and Halle brought home on Saturday as well as return a number of other things Evie bought over the past week or two.  We wanted to make sure to return the chairs, get credit, and beat the crowd which we did by getting there just as it opened.  We browsed for 15 minutes, bought a few things we don't need of course and were home by noon, ready for a good breakfast. 

We both were looking forward to breakfast so Evie quickly fried up the eggs and bacon, toasted a bagel, made some home fries and we were happy.  We watched CBS Sunday Morning until I got tired and kept dozing off.  Evie suggested I take a nap so I did.  The rest of the afternoon was a blur as neither of us had any mojo.  All we wanted to do was lie on a couch and watch some junk TV and avoid getting up.  We both did a pretty good job of it until dinner time. 

We did relax with a glass of wine and cheese at 6:00,  having managed to rise from our couches.  Dinner was the leftover tenderloin, cut into pieces, over mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, my kind of dinner.  We watched a couple of different shows, ending up watching Off The Grid because we could not find anything else that interested us.  We were in bed by 10:00, ready for a good night's sleep. 

A Fun Poem from Fridays Writer's Almanac: Enjoy

Home Cooking by Barbara Crooker Let me stir up a batch of something hot, beef stew or red bean chili, something simmering just below the boil. You let me know if it needs more seasoning, more spice. Let me spread some butter on your cornbread, darling; let it soak into all the cracks. Let me fill your glass with something red and juicy. The oven is hot, and all the burners are glowing. If you can't take the heat. then get out of my kitchen. But if you need to take the chill off, baby, I might be able to dish a little something up . . . A quotation to ponder from novelist Douglas Coupland:   "TV and the Internet are good because they keep stupid people from spending too much time out in public."